Before Easter, NYPD Blues
Charlotte Ross joins the ranks of Christy Turlington and Pamela Anderson
in helping PETAs Id rather go naked than wear fur
series

Photographed by Robert Sebree

Above: Rosss two advertisements première
in Gear just before Easter, advocating the actresss anti-fur
stance.

YPD BLUE
performers getting their kit off mightnt be anything new, but from
memory this marks the first time that one of them has done so for a cause
other than ratings.
Twice-Emmy-nominated Charlotte Ross, who plays Det Connie
McDowell on the series, bares it all for animals in a PETA (People for
the Ethical Treatment of Animals) campaign scheduled to run in Gear
magazine before Easter with the tagline Id rather show my
buns than wear fur.
The photographs were shot by Robert Sobree in Los Angeles
earlier this year.

In the PETA release, Ross says, I cant think
of anything more heartless than to torment and kill animals in the name
of fashion.
She is not alone: Dominique
Swain, Pamela
Anderson, Kim Basinger, Sheryl
Lee, and Christy Turlington have
all appeared in the Naked series of advertisements over the
years.
Without high-profile endorsement from figures such as
Ross, PETA risks being seen as a fringe group. When PETA mounted a protest
several seasons ago at New York Fashion Week, leading to increased security,
it didnt earn many marks within the fashion industry, even from
members who would normally be sympathetic to its cause.
Campaigns such as Naked are considered by
some to be more civilized and allows readers to make up their own minds.
Often, animals raised for fur face lives in small cages,
often sick or injured and left unattended to, unprotected in extreme weather
conditions, or days of agony in traps, tearing flesh and breaking bones
in a struggle to get free.
However, action from animal rights groups have brought
the ill treatment to light.